STARK COUNTY, Ohio — Law enforcement officials in Stark County have launched a specialized task force to combat cryptocurrency fraud and assist victims in recovering lost funds.
The TRACE team (Technology, Response, and Crypto Enforcement) brings together personnel from the Stark County Sheriff’s Office and the Jackson Township Police Department. Using advanced technology, the team tracks stolen funds and works to recover them.
Jackson Township Police Detective Jeff Aynes leads the team.
“We try and follow as quickly as we can to get to a point where we can send a court order and try to freeze and seize some of the assets that have been stolen,” Aynes said. “The systems that we pay for give us attribution, which tells us if it goes to an exchange, which would be the equivalent of a bank if you were transferring money, the exchange is where it’s held in an address or a wallet.”
Although this information is publicly available, criminals use sophisticated tactics to make tracking difficult.
“They follow a lot of the same practices as money laundering, so they try and obfuscate their transactions by doing bulk transactions, sending small amounts,” Aynes said. “It’s very difficult for us to stay ahead of it. We have to be lucky and good.”
Despite these challenges, the TRACE team has delivered strong results.
“We’ve seized over a million dollars,” said Aynes. “We’ve been able to return about $300,000 to victims and we’re still looking for the other victims to return more of that money.”
Perry Township Police recently joined forces with the TRACE team after a man lost $15,000 in a Bitcoin scam.
Scammers convinced the man that he owed money to the Social Security Administration.
“They’re keeping this person on the phone, making it so he can’t talk to anybody else or even have time to verify this using that urgency tactic,” said Perry Township Police Detective Danielle Paciorek.
Paciorek confirmed that they managed to recover most of the man’s money.
“For them to be able to help us and use their tools and resources to help our residents is huge and we really appreciate that,” Paciorek said.
Sergeant Bill Konic from the Stark County Sheriff’s Office hopes more agencies will collaborate with the TRACE team.
“We’re willing to help because a lot of agencies either don’t have the manpower, they don’t have the money to pour into some of these expenses,” Konic said. “I’m sure more agencies will start to reach out once as much as we can spread the word about it.”
Meanwhile, Aynes continues working with state lawmakers to advance legislation aimed at curbing cryptocurrency-related financial fraud.
Ohio House Bill 648 would introduce regulations on crypto ATMs.
“With this new legislation that’s coming out, the regulation will make it a lot easier for us to limit what the victim can lose in that 72-hour period,” Aynes said. “They’ve put some regulation on these companies to reimburse the fees that are associated with that transaction as well.”
The bill is currently under review by the House Financial Institutions Committee.
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